Extreamly Adult Picky Eaters

BrutalWarPig
BrutalWarPig Posts: 8 Member
in Recipes
Hello all!!!,

Not sure where to start. I have decided that it is time for a lifestyle change. I don't think I am overweight. I just still have my belly and leg fat but in case anyone can calculate it I am a 23 year old male, I am 5'6 and weight just under 150. The other reason I am looking at a life style change is, to increase energy and overall better my mood. However I am not sure where to start because I am a very picky adult eater. This summer I added corn and artichoke to my list of food I will eat but it could get better. Has anyone been in the same boat as me or know someone who has? Any tips would be so helpful.

To give you an idea I am going to start cutting out pop, processed junk(lays, chips, most crackers, ect). Since I lean towards liking fruit I am going to start to buy fruit even thought it is expensive.

I guess I will leave it at this for now and let you ask questions / respond

Replies

  • Mygsds
    Mygsds Posts: 1,564 Member
    Hello and welcome.... One thing I have learned from the posters here is you dont t have to cut out certain foods. I did this in the beginning and then I would crave those things and over eat. Figure out your calorie goal and eat at a deficit. You can have all foods in moderation. You will get probably many responses to your post and you will learn so many things from people who know what they are talking about. Best to you on this journey and come back often.
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
    Reducing pop is one of the most important things you can do.
    Otherwise, you can eat the same foods you already eat while eating less of them.
    If you want, instead of thinking of taking foods out of your daily plan, add some new foods.
    It helped me to organize my kitchen to fit in with my new life -- make things easier for things I want to keep in the house.
  • PurrlyGirl
    PurrlyGirl Posts: 59 Member
    I'm awfully picky. I have extreme aversions to certain smells/tastes/textures, and will throw up if I try to force it, so I've had to get creative. It can be done! It's all about the calories. I replaced cokes with calorie free Fruit Water (Glaceau brand) because it's fizzy and sweet but isn't wrecking my numbers. I replaced regular tortillas with low carb/low cal whole wheat tortillas, slowly swapping regular scrambled eggs for egg whites, instead of getting a McD's cheeseburger I get veggie burgers. Also I'm allowing indulgent things...as long as I can make it work under my calorie limits. Heck, I had Olive Garden tonight, cheese ravioli, salad, breadstick, and still had 90 calories left over at the end of the day. It can be done!

    I started out by listing the meals I typically ate - being picky, this is a short list! - and then reviewed every bit of it to see what could be swapped, dropped, or replaced. White, hi cal bread? Nope. Now it's whole wheat low cal bread. Chocolatey cereal? Nope. Now it's Special K. Bag of chips? Nope. Now it's salted cucumber slices.

    Then I figured out my calorie plan with online tools + confirmation with my doctor who agreed that 1500 calories is what's best for me right now. I make it a point to trim calories as much as possible, which allows more room for the stuff I don't want to cut back on. It makes this whole thing so much easier to stick to when I know I can have anything I want if I'm just willing to do the math.
  • BrutalWarPig
    BrutalWarPig Posts: 8 Member
    Reducing pop is one of the most important things you can do.
    Otherwise, you can eat the same foods you already eat while eating less of them.
    If you want, instead of thinking of taking foods out of your daily plan, add some new foods.
    It helped me to organize my kitchen to fit in with my new life -- make things easier for things I want to keep in the house.

    That is a good way of thinking it and I am may try that instead.

    Going to start eating a breakfast and hopefully that will stop my mid morning munchies and I will hopefully be energized and not drink my daily red-bull cyclone. That, with adding more fruits and veggies and doing some soft exercise to start out would probably do wonders. I am just not that hungry in the morning when I wake up.
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
    If you cut out all those things, then it better be for life. If you don't plan on making this eating style your lifestyle (meaning you will always eat this way and just vary the quantity depending on your body weigh goals), then simply keep eating these things but eat them to fit within your lowered caloric needs. I stopped drinking pop in my teens, I just don't have a taste for it anymore. But I still eat chips. Although I actually eat them far less often because I just don't crave them as much now that I don't limit their consumption.

    But to get over pickiness, all you do is try new foods. If you like it, then add it to the foods you will eat. if you don't, then don't add it to your list. I found that once I joined MFP and started monitoring my cals/macros, I was much more willing to try new things, probably because I know that with whatever I try I can make it fit into my macros. It's also nice to have lots of variation for protein and fats, I never need variation with carbs honestly because I love carbs and already have lots to choose from. And cooking for myself and not just eating what my parents make gives me both control over waht I eat and makes me more willing to try foods, probably because.. I know what it is? It just seems to make me more willing to try new things.

    Then take things that are within your accepted list (which can include junk food), and eat these foods within your caloric limit.
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
    Reducing pop is one of the most important things you can do.
    Otherwise, you can eat the same foods you already eat while eating less of them.
    If you want, instead of thinking of taking foods out of your daily plan, add some new foods.
    It helped me to organize my kitchen to fit in with my new life -- make things easier for things I want to keep in the house.

    That is a good way of thinking it and I am may try that instead.

    Going to start eating a breakfast and hopefully that will stop my mid morning munchies and I will hopefully be energized and not drink my daily red-bull cyclone. That, with adding more fruits and veggies and doing some soft exercise to start out would probably do wonders. I am just not that hungry in the morning when I wake up.

    If you aren't hungry when you wake up, then simply have your first large/main meal of the day when you ARE hungry. So if you're hungry around 10am, then have a meal prepared to eat at that time, and then eat lunch when hungry, dinner when hungry, etc. Or keep eating your mid-morning snacks, just make sure they fit into your macros and/or calories for the day along with all your regular meals.
  • BrutalWarPig
    BrutalWarPig Posts: 8 Member
    The issue with eating when I am hungry that is I am either at work or in class at 10....but I will try to fit something in. Maybe if I wake up a bit a earlier, I ll eat a nice healthy breakfast.

    Also what are macros in the food sense?
  • MrGonzo05
    MrGonzo05 Posts: 1,120 Member
    Reducing pop is one of the most important things you can do.

    Going to school is importanter.
  • girlviernes
    girlviernes Posts: 2,402 Member
    Bare in mind that it can take 8-10 tries of something to actually know if you can grow to like it. There can also be a psychological component to picky eating, which you can get past if you want to. For example, I have that feeling with egg products, but I wanted to be able to eat eggs. So I started by making myself eat small pieces of egg and slowly built up amount and types of egg.
  • BrutalWarPig
    BrutalWarPig Posts: 8 Member
    Hi OP,

    I'm outrageously picky and dislike a lot of foods. Which didn't stop me from becoming 115 lbs. overweight by the way :)

    I've mostly given up on restaurants, other than fast food joints where they are more accommodating with the hold this, hold that routine.

    I don't accept invitations to eat at private homes unless I know the people really well and the people know me really well. And my annoying food quirks.

    If I can't get out a meal invitation at a private home, I eat before I go and brace myself for the squirming discomfort of some kind of stinky cheesy experience. I hate cheese and savory dairy products and that's what's usually on the menu at everyone's home all the time. I have to pass. I could never gag down an Alfredo, a lasagna, a manicotti, a casserole or mac and cheese. Under any circumstances. And they always seem to have cheesecake for dessert or some kind of effed up cake with cream cheese frosting.

    Just prepare your food at home and pack it to take with you if you have to.

    You know what you like :)

    I love dairy. I just can't do a lot of it do to, having a weak stomach to it. Its mainly veggies I can't do. Even if I can in theory pick around them like in spaghetti, I won't eat it because of tomato, mushrooms, onions. Yet I like raw onions and eat tomato's out tomato soup....I am just weird I guess. I hear you on dinner invitations....I dread those, luckily I am introverted so I don't really accept a lot of those.
  • riotatme23
    riotatme23 Posts: 56 Member
    Reducing pop is one of the most important things you can do.
    Otherwise, you can eat the same foods you already eat while eating less of them.
    If you want, instead of thinking of taking foods out of your daily plan, add some new foods.
    It helped me to organize my kitchen to fit in with my new life -- make things easier for things I want to keep in the house.

    Pretty much everthing I was going to say. Don't sacrifice. Explore! I know tons of picky eaters (I'm the complete opposite) and what I've learned about them is there is no budging. If you don't like it don't eat it. If you like it and its not really "good" for you, just keep your calories in check and you'll be fine.
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    OP: slightly off topic here, but at your height/weight have you considered recomping if you are not happy with your body. You are pretty light for your height and, depending on your goals, looking to eat at maintenance and do some resistance training may be your best route.
  • BrutalWarPig
    BrutalWarPig Posts: 8 Member
    OP: slightly off topic here, but at your height/weight have you considered recomping if you are not happy with your body. You are pretty light for your height and, depending on your goals, looking to eat at maintenance and do some resistance training may be your best route.

    Not off topic at all. I wanted some thought on that. I think 150ilbs is healthy for me, is it not?...I just feel like I still have a lot of belly and upper leg fat. What exactly is eating at maintenance and resistance training? I'm sorry for sounding naive, I really don't know.
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    OP: slightly off topic here, but at your height/weight have you considered recomping if you are not happy with your body. You are pretty light for your height and, depending on your goals, looking to eat at maintenance and do some resistance training may be your best route.

    Not off topic at all. I wanted some thought on that. I think 150ilbs is healthy for me, is it not?...I just feel like I still have a lot of belly and upper leg fat. What exactly is eating at maintenance and resistance training? I'm sorry for sounding naive, I really don't know.

    Without further information, it is impossible to say whether 150lb is healthy for you as it depends on muscle mass and frame as well as general health. It is on the lowish end and the fact that you want to lose more weight may not be the healthiest choice. Eating at maintenance is eating at a level that equates to your energy expenditure - in other words, your weight remains static (other than normal water weight and other short term fluctuations).

    When you recomp, you resistance train (most commonly weight lift) using a good progressive loading routine (where you create additional stimulus as you progress by adding to the weight you lift). Effectively, you lose fat slowly and gain muscle slowly so they basically counteract each other on the scale. Body fat goes down but weight remains the same.

    However, at your age and do to the fact that (I assume) you have not been lifting, your progress may be pretty quick relatively.
  • StrawberryJam40
    StrawberryJam40 Posts: 274 Member
    To give you an idea I am going to start cutting out pop, processed junk(lays, chips, most crackers, ect). Since I lean towards liking fruit I am going to start to buy fruit even thought it is expensive.

    If you are giving up this stuff by choice not because you think you have to - good for you. Though as everyone says, you don't have to give up anything...staying within daily calories is the thing.

    But, I chose to lessen those things by limiting pop to one a day or less, and cut a lot of processed foods out. I found out my grocery bill is actually less switching to buying fruits, veggies, lean meats, eggs, cottage cheese. Plus, finding it cheaper eating out less and amazing how much your grocery bill is when you eat within your calorie range instead of over eating all the time. I'm starting to question anyone who says it's not affordable to eat healthy foods.

    One thing is shop those things in season, and I shop the weekly ads for sales.

    Picky..ok, but want to try something new go back to the sales ad. It makes it affordable to try one new thing to do a test run and see if you like it.

    Good luck!

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